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Nadine's tires were finished. When we left Korla we found a nice bicycle shop and we got a tire for free, because we were friends. Wonderful! |
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China's national day. We had no clue about this until we left Korla and on our way out of the city we were invited to the huge celebrations on one of the main squares in the city. |
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Dancing, music and singing for hours. |
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Different teams in different outfits. |
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A great show for all ages. |
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We were on our way towards Tian Shan.
Unfortunately there were no good alternatives to the horrible National Highway 314.
It's one of the worst roads I've cycled anywhere in the world. Crazy
traffic, no shoulders, bad asphalt in parts and bloody hot. Felt like it
was the road to hell and many times we were pretty close to death in the
insane traffic.
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Everything has an end and so had our time on 314/666.
Left hell behind and indulged in small, quiet back-roads on our way
towards Tian Shan. Chilli in abundance. Yummy! |
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Corn en masse... |
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...and sheep. It was wonderful to cycle as "normal" touring cyclists again. Almost the whole journey had been more in the category of expedition cycling, from one hard area to the next. Here, there were a day and a half of tranquil cycling, where we could stop anywhere to buy food and eat in small restaurants. Very nice with some change. |
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We got closer to the mountains and everywhere we saw this sign. I don't know excactly what it means but I'm sure it isn't nice treatment offered if you break a certain law. |
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After about two weeks in the heat of the desert it was time for some colder climate again. The temperature got lower and lower as we gained altitude. |
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The second last day of the journey was the longest climbing day. Over 1900 vertical meters on rough, sometimes icy and snowy dirt tracks, most of the time in raging blizzards. Can you ask for more!? |
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Nadine is getting close to the 4000 meter high pass. Hard winds, cold and icy. |
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Shankou, means mountain pass in Chinese. Shan=mountain. Kou=port, opening. In this case it really fits. The pass is one of the more spectacular in China and the rest of the world with it's many switchbacks and the opening high up on the top of a sharp ridge. |
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My bike stolen? Nadine lost in the blizzard? Snow blindness? Nope. |
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Incredibly icy on the other side of the pass. We wanted to get down quick (for me it's always fun to up passes, not down), but it was impossible. Had to lead the bikes down the first 8-10 switchbacks in order not to crash. |
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On our way towards Urumqi and the warm
flatlands. The last cycling day on this journey. 3200 meters downhill from the top of the pass. When I speeded down the long sweeping downhills I, as usual, felt a lot of sadness because it was the end of the journey for this time, even if I was sure I would be back in China very soon aagin. Nadine was also satisfied with the trip, but like me, she was grumpy about the failure of the making it over Central Chang Tang. We promised ourselves to make a new try in year 2003. |